Please refer to FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C, which are schematic views showing the insertion of a plug into a conventional RJ-45 jack connector respectively. FIG. 1A is a schematic view showing a state before a conventional RJ-45 jack receives a plug. FIG. 1B is a schematic view showing the conventional RJ-45 jack connector mated with the plug. FIG. 1C is a cross-sectional view showing the conventional RJ-45 jack connector mated with the plug.
First, the respective parts of the conventional jack connector will be described with reference to FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1A, a plug 11 and a jack connector 12 are provided. The top surface of the plug 11 is provided with an engaging piece 111. Left and right sides of the engaging pieces 111 are provided with an engaging wall 112 respectively. The jack connector 12 is provided with a main body 121. A surface of the main body 121 is provided with a shroud 122. The inside surfaces of the shroud 122 are provided with two engaging plates 123 as shown in FIG. 1C. These two engaging plates 123 are configured to be engaged with the engaging walls 112 formed on left and right sides of the top surface of the plug 11 when the plug 11 is inserted into the jack connector 12.
The insertion of a conventional plug into a conventional jack connector will be described later with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B. As shown in FIG. 1A, when the plug 11 is to be inserted into the jack connector 12, a user has to align the engaging piece 111 of the plug 11 with the shroud 122 of the jack connector 12, so that the plug 11 can be correctly inserted into the jack connector 12. After the plug 11 is inserted into the jack connector 12, the two engaging plates 123 provided on the shroud 122 of the jack connector 12 can be engaged with the engaging walls 112 on left and right sides of the top surface of the plug 11. In this way, the plug 11 can be fixedly inserted into the jack connector 12.
Referring to FIG. 1C, which is a cross-sectional view showing the conventional RJ-45 jack mated with the plug. As shown in FIG. 1C, the two engaging plates 123 provided on the shroud 122 of the jack connector 12 are engaged with the engaging walls 112 on left and right sides of the top surface of the plug 11, so that the plug 11 can be fixedly inserted to the jack connector 12.
Referring to FIGS. 1D and 1E, which are schematic views showing the structure of the conventional RJ-45 jack connector. The problems occurring when the plug is inserted into the conventional RJ-45 jack connector will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1D, the two engaging plates 123 provided on the shroud 122 of the jack connector 12 are engaged with the engaging walls 112 on left and right sides of the top surface of the plug 11, so that the plug 11 can be fixedly inserted into the jack connector 12. Since the engaging portion is located on an upper surface of the shroud 122 and the dimension of the shroud 122 is restricted by the dimension of the main body 121, as shown in FIG. 1E, the dimension of the portion of the shroud 122 comprising the engaging plates 123 cannot be reduced further, which does not conform to the modern requirements for compact design of hardware in this field. As shown in FIG. 1E, the height of an upper portion of the shroud 122 in such a conventional RJ-45 jack connector is hardly smaller than 3.55 mm.
In view of the above, it is an important issue for the manufacturers in this field to propose a novel RJ-45 jack connector, which is capable of reducing its dimension and allowing a plug to insert therein.